The statements in the background of the invention are provided to assist with understanding the invention and its applications and uses, and may not constitute prior art.
There are generally three approaches that have been tried to generate or extract body measurements from images of users. A first approach was to use 3D cameras that provide depth data, such as MICROSOFT KINECT camera. With depth sensing, 3D body models can be built to capture body sizing. However, not everyone has access to 3D cameras, and since there is no clear path to mass adoption at the moment, it is not currently conceivable that such 3D cameras become ubiquitous.
A second approach was to use 2D cameras to capture 2D videos, and make use of 2D-to-3D reconstruction techniques to recreate 3D body models to capture body sizing. Such a technique is used by companies such as MTAILOR and 3DLOOK. In the 2D video approach, a 3D body model is recreated, and the approach attempts to perform a point cloud matching technique to match an existing 3D body template with a pre-filled point cloud onto the newly created 3D body. However, the result may not be accurate when trying to fit an existing template onto a unique user's 3D body. After the matching of the template 3D body with the user's 3D body is complete, sizing and measurements are obtained, but they are generally not accurate.
A third approach was to use 2D cameras to capture 2D photos instead of 2D videos, and similar to the previous method, utilize 2D-to-3D reconstruction techniques to capture body sizing. Such a technique is used by AGISOFT, for example, a company that has developed 3D reconstruction from 2D photos into 3D models. Using 2D photos, instead of 2D videos, may involve photos captured at a higher resolution, thus producing results with slightly higher accuracy, but the other aforementioned problems remain.
In the existing methods using 2D videos or photos, 3D body models are generated, and these approaches generally require the user to have specific poses, stand at a specific distance from the camera, in front of an empty background, wear tight fitting clothing, and/or be partially nude wearing only underwear. Such requirements for controlled environments and significant user frictions are undesirable.
Therefore, it would be an advancement in the state of the art to provide a system and method for accurately extracting body measurements from 2D photos with 1) the user in any pose, 2) the user standing in front of any background type, 3) the photos taken at any distance, and 4) the user wearing any type of clothing, such that everyone can easily take photos of themselves and benefit from full body measurement extraction.
It is against this background that the present invention was developed.